It was a gentle morning in the garden of the White Manor. Eira sat beneath the canopy of flowering trees, the sun casting soft golden rays across the grass. The air was fresh, the scent of roses mingling with the steam from the cup of milk tea she held in her hands. It had been a week since her conversation with the Cecil, and today, she allowed herself a rare moment of quiet.
As she sipped her tea, Emma appeared from the garden path, her voice calm but alert. "My lady, you have a visitor."
Eira glanced up. "Who is it? Who wants to visit me this early in the morning?"
Emma hesitated. "It's René Voclain… your grandmother."
Eira raised a single brow. "I certainly didn't expect her to come. I thought she would be hiding a bit longer."
She fell silent for a moment, her gaze drifting toward the blossoms nearby. "Emma," she said slowly, "there's something that's been bothering me since my meeting with Cecil. Why didn't the house-elf, Shani, ever reveal the truth to him? Why didn't she tell him he was the son of Adrian Voclain? Why didn't she say that his mother's killer was Elijah—my grandfather?"
She stared down at her tea, brow furrowed.
"Even though Cecil was Olivia's son, after her death, ownership of the house-elf could've passed to him. So why didn't she speak up? If she truly belonged to Olivia, she should have said something. She had nearly twenty years to tell him the truth—yet she said nothing."
Emma folded her hands. "Maybe Olivia wanted to protect him. Maybe she gave the house elf strict orders to stay silent, to keep Cecil safe. If the Voclain family had known about an illegitimate son, they might have… taken action."
Eira nodded slowly. "It's plausible. Maybe Olivia feared for him. But then there's René. She knew everything, didn't she? And she did nothing. That's what's complicated."
Emma was silent for a moment. Then she reminded gently, "My lady… Madam Voclain is still waiting."
Eira sighed and set her tea aside. "Fine. Bring her here. The sun is too pleasant to waste indoors. Let's see what she's come for."
A few minutes passed before Eira heard the firm sound of approaching footsteps. René Voclain entered the garden, with Emma following close behind. Eira stood to greet her, brushing invisible wrinkles from her skirts. Her voice was calm but sharp.
"I didn't expect you to come," she said evenly.
René looked at her granddaughter, standing tall in the morning light, and said nothing for a moment. Emma gestured politely.
"Please, Madam Voclain, have a seat."
René lowered herself gracefully onto the chair across from Eira, and Eira took her place once more.
"Lolly," Eira called softly.
With a pop, the loyal house-elf appeared. "Yes, my lady?"
"Bring some tea and snacks for our guest."
Lolly bowed. "At once, my lady," and vanished again.
The silence between the two women stretched thin before René finally broke it.
"So… you know," she said, her voice hushed.
Eira leaned back slightly, her expression unreadable. "Yes. I found out that the Voclain family is apparently my maternal lineage. My mother's family."
René sighed, a sound filled with weary regret. "I didn't want you to find out like this."
Eira's voice turned crisp. "Like what? If you never wanted to speak to me, that's fine. I can understand. It's not a big deal. Not everyone is eager to acknowledge their alleged granddaughter."
René's hands trembled. "How did you know?"
Eira met her eyes, unflinching. "Apparently, my dear grandfather—your husband Adrian—and Olivia, his lover, planted a house-elf within our family. That elf was spying on Elijah. On me. For my dear Uncle. And when the House elf got caught , after some interrogation the elf told me everything."
René's hands clenched at the mention of Olivia and Adrian, her expression darkening.
Eira continued. "She told me how my mother belonged to your family. That she gave it up to marry the man she loved. That she abandoned it."
"She didn't abandon it," René said quickly. Her voice cracked. "I disowned her."
Eira's eyes narrowed. "Well, then. That was her choice, wasn't it? To live her life without you. Maybe she was happy. I don't know. I didn't get to know her long enough to say for certain."
A heavy silence settled between them.
"I wanted to reach out to you all these years," René admitted. "But I was afraid. Afraid of the truth being exposed. That your mother was one of us."
Eira scoffed softly. "Would it have made any difference? She had her name. Her identity. It wasn't exactly hidden."
"No," René murmured, shaking her head. "When she married your father, I had every record of her connection to the Voclain name erased. I made sure no one could trace her back to us. Not until recently. Now people have started digging."
"And of course they'd find it," Eira replied. "She was married into one of the most powerful families in Europe. You really thought no one would notice?"
They sat in silence again, until René finally looked up and spoke with hesitation.
"I came here with a request."
Eira raised a brow. "A request?"
René nodded. "Could you make a public statement? Deny Cecil's connection to the Voclain family. Deny his blood ties to my husband. I don't want Adrian's name—his reputation—sullied in front of the world."
At that, Eira's fingers tightened so hard around her teacup that it cracked sharply in her hand. The shattering of porcelain echoed through the garden.
Emma rushed forward immediately, murmuring cleaning spells to clear the tea and shards from Eira's lap.
Eira sat still, fury building behind her calm voice. "I'm… disappointed. I never thought you'd be this kind of person. You came here not to make peace. Not to acknowledge me. But to ask me to lie. To preserve the so-called honor of a man who destroyed families in the name of love?"
She looked directly at René. "What you're asking is absurd. Everyone knows now. And a simple blood test would confirm it."
René's voice turned desperate. "No one knows for certain yet. If you publicly deny it, and we support the claim, then the results—"
Eira laughed bitterly. "You want me to lie to clean up your mess? To protect your family's name while my family's been turned into a joke? Olivia has an affair with an unknown man . Cecil is born. The White family is ridiculed. And you sit there, pretending it isn't your husband's mistake?"
René looked away, unable to meet her eyes.
"I never imagined my first real meeting with my grandmother would be like this," Eira said coldly. "You ask me to give up what little dignity my family has left, just to cover for your unfaithful husband. I didn't expect this from you… Professor."
At that word—Professor—René flinched, tears filling her eyes. "I know what I'm asking is too much. But I promise you, your family's honor won't be affected. I'm sure… if Maria were alive, she would agree with me."
Eira's face turned hard. "Don't. Don't use my mother to manipulate me. You know nothing about her. Nothing. You don't know how she lived, how she was treated. How even the servants here whispered about her just because she gives birth to a child who looked nothing like her husband so don't use her you don't have the right to say that not after You abandoned her. She was alone , and died all alone. And you, you didn't even care to attend her funeral at least ."
She rose from her seat. "I didn't leak the news about Cecil's parentage. But I won't go out of my way to lie and deny it either. He is from your family. If you want to chase down whoever made it public, be my guest."
"Lolly," she called, "please escort Madam Voclain back."
The elf appeared instantly. "This way, madam," she said gently.
René stood, her eyes brimming with unshed tears, but she said nothing as she followed Lolly out of the garden.
As the footsteps faded, Emma turned to Eira. "Are you alright, my lady?"
Eira let out a breath. "Do you think I'm upset because she didn't hug me and call me her granddaughter? No. I'm angry because she came here just to ask me to deny the truth. To protect the honor of the man who ruined lives."
She shook her head in disbelief. "And what I still don't understand is… why is she defending him? My grandfather killed his wife for betrayal, but here she is, coming to bury her unfaithful husband's mistakes. Why?"
Emma's voice was quiet. "Maybe she loved him. Maybe, despite the betrayal, she's still obsessed with him. Maybe she doesn't want his memory to be shamed."
Eira sneered. "What a horrible woman. She abandoned her daughter for loving the wrong man. She disowned her without a second thought. But for Adrian—who never even loved her—she still fights to preserve his honor."
She turned away from the path, the sun now glinting off her snowy hair as the garden fell into silence once more.